Out Running Fate
by Fireflyhikari
Summary: "There are no happy endings because nothing ever ends."    What is a happy conclusion? How does one find a successful conclusion? You cannot find one in reality.    This was created for SMASH! However I do not think I will win it so it is posted here...


**Title: **Out Running Fate

**Rating: **PG

**Prompt:** "There are no happy endings because nothing ever ends." – Smendrick the Wizard, the Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

**Warnings:** Spoilers for Final Fantasy 13

**Words: **2,412 _(not including the heading) _2,415 _(including the heading)_

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Final Fantasy 13; as Square Enix owns it; the only thing I do own is the plot and the Title.

**Author Note:** This was created for the SMASH! Fan Fiction Competition however I do not think I am going to win it and so I am posting it up here now for you guys...

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><p><strong>Out Running Fate<strong>

"_There are no happy endings because nothing ever ends."_

What is a happy conclusion? How does one find a successful conclusion? You cannot find one in reality. Sure, in fairytale situations the unlucky orphan will end up marrying a prince, live happily ever after, and have a wonderful ending. However, in reality nothing truly ever ends.

Why am I saying this you ask? Well I have known first hand you see. My name is Oerba Dia Vanille and I am physically 19 years old, I have lived my life with happiness and laughter however, the happiness and laughter faded away with time.

Faded, how can happiness and laughter fade? If you watch your best friend who is like a sister die in front of you, and your other close friends sacrifice themselves one by one then you can understand why my happiness has faded.

This reality should not have come. My friends were not meant to die by their hands, yet they killed them all. The first one to die by them was Hope; Hope was a brave young boy who at first complained at every little thing and was only in this team because he was seeking revenge for the person who killed his mother. However, time changed and he became a great ally. He was the only one who was brave enough to bring down the whole SICOM army.

Snow was next to be taken down. They had held Serah's crystallized body hostage and used that to their advantage as they knew he would do anything for his fiancée. They shattered her crystallized form in front of him and so out of rage he sought revenge for both Serah and Hope by blowing up the whole building.

After Snow and Hope, Lightning was the next to die. We thought that she was strong and that she would survive but with the deaths of Hope, Serah and Snow she could not live with herself and so she went on a suicide mission and blew up Barthandelus.

Now we were down to three and Sazh had yet to forgive me for turning his son into an L'Cie therefore he only stuck with us to protect me, which I found rather noble, unfortunately his protection did not last, as he died taking down Nabaat.

I guess you know who was next in line to die. My heart broke when she fell. My best friend died giving me a chance to go back in time to change our fate. We were not going to let the Pulse control our lives any longer.

**-****Flashback****-**

We were in Grand Pulse, and they were not far behind us however, I could not go on any further and so I sat down on the grass.

"We have got to keep moving Vanille; if we just sit here they will catch us and kill us. I am not going to let them get you." Fang said pulling me up off the grass.

"I know Fang but I'm so tired. I need to rest a little while." I replied trying to sit back down again.

"I know it is hard Vanille but we do not want our friends' deaths to be in vain we have to keep moving." proclaimed Fang, as she held me in her arms.

"Fang we have been running non stop day and night. I need a rest now." I stated nearly shouting at her,

"Alright kid. We will rest here." she said smiling at me.

"Thanks Fang." I said smiling back.

The two of us stopped to rest for the night and set up a warm fire, although we kept the fire small, as we did not want them to find us.

"We need to discuss what you are going to tell our past selves as we want to be able to change our fate." Fang said getting out a bottle of water from the backpack.

"I was planning on telling them everything we have been through except for the fact that I am 519 years old." I stated staring into the fire.

"Okay Vanille but what if they ask you questions about our past?" asked Fang as she handed me the water,

"I won't be saying a thing about our past Fang as all I am planning on telling them is how they die and what they must do to prevent that." I replied taking a sip of the water.

"Sounds good kid although it may take some believing." stated Fang as she leaned down next to me.

Our discussion went on for most of the night though sleep eventually took over. The next morning we awoke to noises around us. As it turned out, they had found us and surrounded us with their guns and so Fang who was fully awake stood in front of me protecting me from them.

"Use the spell now Vanille! If anyone should live it should be you, I vowed to protect you." Fang shouted whilst fighting them.

"I'm not leaving you Fang!" I shouted back tears falling down my face.

"If you won't say the spell then I will." She shouted again pushing one of the men off her.

I watched as she whispered the spell and a portal behind me opened up sucking me in. My last moments of Fang were the sight of her falling to the ground dying.

**-****End Flashback****-**

I had awoken in a prison cell with Sazh Katzroy and my past self, staring down at me.

"Who are you and why do you look like the kid?" asked Sazh as he stared at me.

I stood up and brushed my skirt down; I then stood up and smiled at the two of them although on the inside I was breaking down.

"My name is Oerba Dia Vanille and I am your future self." I said looking at my past self; I then watched as they looked in awe and then my past self placed her hands on her hips and leant forward.

"Okay if you are my future self then prove it."

Mimicking her actions I then grinned and said something that only I knew.

"You have not forgotten anything and you want to make amends to her."

I watched as Sazh sat down on the seat to the left and then place his hands on his knees.

"So is what she said true Vanille?" Sazh asked looking at my past self.

My past self looked down and then nodded slightly.

"Yeah Sazh; everything she had just said is true." she replied.

"So you're from the future huh?" questioned Sazh.

I nodded and sat opposite Sazh.

"Why are you here?" he asked staring into my eyes.

Leaning on the wall behind me, I closed my eyes, I answered Sazh's question.

"To change our fate; She sent me back."

"Who's she?"

Ignoring Sazh's question I watched as my past self realized who she was.

"So she's okay?" asked my past self.

"Yeah, she's fine. You will meet up with her soon." I replied.

"This is going to get confusing with two Vanille's here." said Sazh out of the blue.

"Call me Dia if it is too complicated." I stated using my middle name.

The three of us sat there silently for an hour and then just as I remembered the alarm went off and so I hid behind the cargo and watched as Sazh and Vanille took out the two guards.

"All clear now; you can come out now." my past self stated rather cheerfully.

Getting up from behind the cargo, I then kicked the guard that was lying down and then walked out of the prison cell.

"Was it really necessary to kick him?" Sazh asked looking at me.

I nodded and then got going with them. It took us a while but we eventually came to the area where we were to meet up with Fang and so my past self stepped forward and used a grenade to blow up the area. Being thrilled at the fact that she was just about to be, reunited with Fang my past self jumped down and then walked through the smoky area first. I watched as the two were reunited.

"Vanille..." Fang yelled in happiness.

"Fang…" my past self yelled back.

Tears fell from my eyes as I remembered my happy reunion with Fang who was no longer alive.

"Let's go greet them girly." Sazh said patting my back.

I wiped my eyes and nodded smiling up at him.

"There you are." Snow said looking at both Sazh and me.

"Miss me?" Sazh asked waving a hand to Snow.

"Not you, the monster." stated Snow.

I giggled as Sazh turned around to look for it. The battle was rather easy but who was I to complain. Once we defeated the monster Fang realized that I was there and so she walked over to me.

"Who are you and why do you look like Vanille?" Fang questioned pointing her spear at me.

"Fang don't!" yelled my past self.

"It's alright; I figured she would do this." I said calmly.

"Who are you!" shouted Fang.

By now, the others had gathered around and finally noticed my presence.

"Wow you look exactly like Vanille." Hope said in awe.

"That is because I am Vanille. My name is Oerba Dia Vanille and I am from the future." I stated standing next to my past self.

"I don't believe you." stated Fang staring into my eyes.

"It's alright she isn't here to hurt us." Sazh said coming up behind me and placing an hand on my shoulder.

"Sazh is right. I am not here to hurt anyone. I've already lost you all once." I said looking down to the ground.

"As much as I love standing here watching you all talk we need to get out of here now." Snow said looking at all of us.

After we captured a monster, we all got on its back and took off.

"Believe in lady luck now?" Fang yelled aloud.

"Yeah, Lady Bad Luck." Sazh yelled back.

We eventually jumped off its back and down into the sanctum. Once everyone was standing up, they all crowed around me curious as to why I was here.

"So are you going to tell us why you're here?" Fang asked me.

I nodded and took a step back and clapped my knuckles together turning around every so often.

"Where do I start?" I asked not sure what to tell them.

"Why are you here?" Fang asked again.

Turning back around, I jumped up and smiled.

"That one is easy. I'm here to change your fates." I said smiling at every one of them.

"Our fates?" questioned Lightning taking a step forward.

I nodded and walked around again placing my hands behind my back.

"Let's see. My past is rather harsh but I think you can all handle it." I said turning to face them all.

"What happens to us?" Snow asked me.

"You all die." I said looking down to the ground "Hope dies by blowing up the SICOM army, Serah's crystallized form is shattered and so Snow dies by blowing up the building that took her hostage, Lightning dies by blowing up Barthandelus, Sazh dies by killing Nabaat and Fang…"

I stopped there and wiped away my tears before continuing.

"Fang dies by sending me back here. She saved my life. I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen to all of you." I said looking at each one of them.

Fang took a step forward to me and so I took a step back but she just took another step forward and pulled me into a hug; unable to control myself I wept in her arms.

"It's going to be alright little Missy." Fang said comforting me.

"Wait so we all die." Sazh said taking a step forward.

"Well I guess we just have to prevent your past from happening to us." stated Lightning whilst pulling out her sword.

I stood up and wiped away my tears. One thing I knew was that we never did end up coming down here and facing Barthandelus together and so I knew fate was already changing.

"I can tell your fates have already changed." I said smiling at each one of them

"Why is that?" Hope asked looking at me.

"Because we never did face Barthandelus together; Instead, Lightning was the only one who faced him plus Snow and Hope are alive. They had died long before this." I said smiling at them.

I watched as Hope grinned at me and Snow placed a hand behind his head and turned around.

"So let's go kick Barthandelus butt." Snow said punching his fists together.

We all nodded and headed off to battle Barthandelus together. Time flew by and we had obviously won the battle against Barthandelus plus many other battles. I eventually faded away knowing that I had changed my friends' fates and that they would finally be able to complete their focus and crystallize instead of dying.

Looking down I saw my past self and Fang sacrifice themselves for Cacoon and everyone around them. This was the way it should have been.

"You did good missy." Fang said stepping up behind me.

"Thanks Fang." I said smiling up at her.

"Are you coming, they are waiting." Fang said pointing in the direction behind us.

I nodded my head and so Fang turned around and walked in that direction; taking one last look on the changed future, I saw friends and family be reunited. Smiling, I turned around and walked towards Fang; standing there behind her was my new family.

Hope was standing on the left with his mother and father waving his hand to me, Snow was next to them with an arm wrapped around Serah. Lightning stood there with an arm on Serah's shoulder giving her first ever smile _'Well this was the only time I had seen her smile.'_ Dajh was standing in front of his father waving his hands and smiling. Sazh smiled at me and gave me a, thumbs up.

This was my new family and it did not matter if we were no longer alive, as we knew that we would always stick together no matter what. Our future and our fate had changed although one thing did remain and that was that this was our happy ending no matter that are no happy endings because nothing ever ends.

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><p>Please let me know what you think of this short story by writing a Review...<p> 


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